Tag Archives: reality tv

ABC’s newest reality weight loss TV show “My Diet is Better Than Yours” is flipping the script and putting the contestants in charge of their weight loss plan. Hosted by Shaun T, creator of the intense and wildly popular workout program Insanity, “My Diet is Better Than Yours” features celebrity personal trainers coaching average Americans as they work hard to lose weight and get in shape with the program of their choice.

The Biggest Loser is back January 4, 2016 for its 17th season, but with a new host, a new gym and even a brand new logo, this season will be anything but business as usual.

America’s favorite trainers Dolvett Quince and Jen Widerstrom return this season to train eight teams of two contestants, all competing to shed the most weight for the $250,000 grand prize. Seven of the teams know each other well, with couplings including spouses, parents and adult children, siblings, and best friends, all looking to improve their lives and heal old wounds through losing weight and getting their health under control.

The members of the eighth team are strangers to each other, but you may know them quite well: former “Survivor” winner and “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant Richard Hatch, 54, and “The Voice” season two semi-finalist Erin Willett, 26. While they may be used to the bright lights and cameras, this team will still have to work just as hard as the other contestants to lose their excess weight while figuring out how to work together and support each other in making lasting lifestyle changes.

While this season will have all the calorie-burning, sweat-dripping excitement you’ve come to know and love from The Biggest Loser, season 17 brings with it a lot of changes, too.

The new host is a friendly, familiar face: beloved former The Biggest Loser trainer Bob Harper. The newly renovated “Biggest Loser” gym features a brand new look, logo and modernized state-of-the-art equipment, including eight individual high-tech wall monitors that track each contestant’s stats in real time, including calorie burn and heart rate. The gym will be split, with one half dedicated to Team Dolvett and the other half dedicated to Team Jen. Weigh-ins are also getting a revamp, featuring double scales so teams can weigh in and face off side by side.

The theme for this season is ‘Temptation,’ and will focus on real world situations and roadblocks that everyone faces in their pursuit to live a healthy lifestyle. Players will spend more time off-campus this season than ever before to better prepare them for what they will face when they return home, and offer viewers helpful take aways they can implement immediately in their own fitness journeys.

This weekend could be the start of big life changes for a handful of people who want to lose weight… on TV. Starting on Saturday, ABC’s program “Extreme Weight Loss“—not to be confused with NBC’s “The Biggest Loser“—is casting its fifth season with auditions all across the country.

Eyeworks USA is now casting Season 5 of Extreme Weight Loss. Extreme Weight Loss is a unique undertaking that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen on TV. The show documents the amazing makeover of courageous, obese individuals who set out to safely lose half of their body weight over the course of a year. The metamorphosis is truly amazing.(more…)

Last night’s Biggest Loser finale wasn’t exactly the celebration we were all hoping for. Rachel Frederickson, a favorite to win, and one of our favorite contestants to watch, was named the Biggest Loser over Bobby Saleem and David Brown. Her victory should have been wonderful, but instead had a sour taste to it.

What stuck out was how thin she appeared to be. At just 105 pounds, Rachel lost 60 percent of her body weight during her Biggest Loser journey, setting a new record for highest percentage of body weight lost during the show. NBC has offered “No comment” about Rachel’s weight loss.

“Fast weight loss is often associated with muscle loss and protein-calorie malnutrition since protein from the muscles and organs is converted to glucose to feed your brain. Muscle glucose makes up for the lack of glucose coming in. Rapid weight loss, and any starvation, leads to psychological changes that promote binge eating as the body attempts to replace lost mass.”

From a starting weight of 260 pounds, Rachel lost 155 pounds in 7 months. What concerns us about her weight loss is Rachel admits to being 5’5″ tall which puts her current BMI at 17.5. That’s solidly in the underweight range, and she is the only contestant in Biggest Loser history (worldwide) to end their season underweight.

Rachel Frederickson may have won Biggest Loser season 15 tonight, but there’s very little to celebrate. She looked stunning when she was finally revealed during the live finale, but awe turned to shock when millions of viewers at home noticed her frail, skeletal frame.

“I knew it would come to this someday, just wish it hadn’t,” was the comment from a trusted insider who attended the finale. For years people have wondered if the $250,000 prize money would push contestants too far. This isn’t the first time a finalist has looked too thin on that scale; but no one has ever looked as frighteningly emaciated as Rachel did tonight.

“It’s so much worse in person, isn’t it?” I texted, following the show’s ending.

My sentiments were the same as my insider’s. Rachel’s final weigh-in put her at 105 pounds. That’s not how much she lost, that’s her current weight, a 60% total weight loss off of a starting weight of 260 pounds. That percentage, most likely one of the highest in show history, absolutely secured her win. (more…)

This season on Live Big With Ali Vincent, airing Saturdays at 5:30 p/4:30 c, it’s all about surprises but also with every surprise destination it seems as if my mom, Bette-Sue and I are in competition. Don’t get me wrong, I like a little healthy competition every now and then but I don’t always like making everything about winning because when winning is involved, that means losing is involved.

With that same thought process sometimes competition is exactly what’s needed to give me that extra little push to keep me on track. I operate well in competitive situations when physical challenges are involved, if it’s not direct. What do I mean by this? I mean that I don’t particularly like head-to-head games because I don’t like the feeling that arises within me on trying to “beat” the competition. I don’t like the feeling of beating someone else in order to win.

So when I say I operate well in competitive situations I mean, I like competition that involves everyone doing his or her best. Is there still someone that wins and someone that loses? YES. However for me it feels different and I actually end up doing better if I know others are striving for the same goal. It gives me the drive when I don’t feel like waking up or putting in the extra effort when I know everyone is going to have his or her results looked at the same time.

When I was younger I was very good at my sport and often won my bracket. I also on several occasions would over hear the other girls talking about “beating” me at all cost, I felt separate and I hated it. However somehow these experiences led me to live my life, as an adult who did not participate in activities I didn’t know I could win. It got to the point that I just quit participating period. This didn’t serve me or allow me to create the life I wanted to live.

In my life it has proved very beneficial to understand this about myself. It has allowed me to understand why I let myself hold back or participate in head to head competitions. This knowledge allows me to just put those feelings aside and choose consciously, to allow it to beFUN and keep sensitive feelings aside.

Tune in this week to see how competition sometimes comes between my mom and me and sometimes brings us closer. Maybe you will start thinking about how you respond to competitive situations and I hope that if you it holds you back in any way, you stop, evaluate and find a way to still participate!

You’ll have an exclusive opportunity to meet the casting directors for the show and win a front of the line pass to the casting call of your choice during our G+ Hangout on April 30 at 7:30p CST. We’re hosting this event with Holland Weathers and Randy Bernstein with casting. Plus, season 14 winner Danni Allen will join us! There are five open seats and we want to put you in one!

ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition hits the road this April for a live casting call tour in 13 cities nationwide. It’s an exciting opportunity to be on one of the most popular weight loss reality shows, but more importantly to change your health and life with the help of leading experts.

You’ll have an exclusive opportunity to meet the casting directors for the show and win a front of the line pass to the casting call of your choice during our G+ Hangout on April 2 at 8:00p EST. We’re hosting this event with Holland Weathers and Brandon Nickens, as well as season two success Jacqui McCoy. There are five open seats and we want to put you in one! GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED!

At the live casting calls, you’ll meet one-on-one with casting agents, interviews that could land you one of a few coveted spots on the show’s fourth season. Unlike other reality weight loss shows, Extreme Makeover is not competition based and follows an individual’s journey from start to finish for 365 days under the direction of trainer Chris Powell. (more…)

Each year, sometimes twice a year, hundreds of thousands of people vie for a very few coveted spots on The Biggest Loser. At most, two dozen people are selected for the most exclusive weight loss experience in the world.

For the upcoming fourteenth season, there were 18 spots open. Danielle Allen, or Danni, was lucky enough to grab one of those spots. And we were lucky enough to grab Danni, as she’ll assume the role of Biggest Loser Correspondent during this new season.

“Whether we made it or not, we knew this was going to be our starting point. I never thought I was going to make it because the casting was so fast,” Danni told us of her casting experience with a friend. She talked with casting directors at an open audition and headed home, like so many other hopefuls just like her.

“But then, that night, I got a phone call saying they wanted me! I was shocked! A lot of paperwork later and I was on my way to to the ranch.”

Call it luck, right place at the right time, or fate, but this was just the next step in a journey she’d already committed to.

Last February, the 26-year old spent a month in the hospital sitting next to an ICU bed. It wasn’t hers, but that of her father.

“We didn’t think he was going to make it,” she recalled. He had a weight-related illness that hospitalized him. During his stay, he turned 50.

“I saw myself in him and I knew that that was not what I wanted. I knew he did this to himself and I did not want to one day spend my own 50th birthday in a hospital. I knew I had to make a change.” (more…)

One of the most important people behind the scenes at Biggest Loser left at the end of season 12. Changing directions at the show and within her own life leadCheryl Forberg, RD away from the ranch for the first time since the show’s inception. But when NBC called her out of the blue last month and asked her to return, Cheryl says, “I said yes in about three minutes.”

“Yes, Cheryl is back and we’re looking forward to a great season,” said an NBC spokesperson, confirming the dietitian’s return.

It’s obvious that Biggest Loser is a place this renowned dietitian and chef can call home. When she announced her departure last November there was a lot of shock. She told us then that the seven-plus years she’d worked on the show, helping to co-author the contestants’ nutrition program, was the longest working relationship she’d ever had. Apparently, the “enriching” and “unique” experience she had couldn’t keep her away. The contestants are likely better off for it.

“She’s a very warm lady who is always there to help us even to this day,” said Mark Pinhasovich, the season 10 at-home winner, upon learning of Cheryl’s return.

Cheryl has already been out to the ranch to meet the newest batch of contestants, who will debut in season 14 this upcoming January. With a week or two of filming and training already under their shrinking belts, they’ve no doubt already gotten a heavy dose of Cheryl’s medicine. Early impressions are good from her viewpoint.

“I just spent a few days with the new cast and I love them all,” she told us. “Their positive energy and enthusiasm is contagious and I’m certain you’ll feel it when you watch the first episode.” (more…)

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